36 percent voter turnout in West Bengal by-polls

Voting for by-elections in two Lok Sabha constituencies and one Assembly seat in West Bengal began on Saturday morning under the shadow of the Centre's demonetisation drive.

Kolkata: Around 36 percent votes were cast till 11 am on Saturday in the by-poll to two Lok Sabha and one Assembly seats in West Bengal.

An Election Commission official said, "Around 36 per cent polling has been recorded. The polling has been peaceful. There has been no untoward incident."

Voting for the by-election in two Lok Sabha constituencies and one Assembly seat in West Bengal began this morning under the shadow of the Centre's demonetisation drive.

The by-elections are being held in Cooch Behar and Tamluk Lok Sabha constituencies and Monteswar Assembly constituency. The ruling Trinamool Congress, BJP, Left Front and Congress have fielded their candidates in the by-poll.

Although Congress and CPI(M)-led Left Front had contested the April-May Assembly polls together, the two parties decided to part company in this round of by-elections.

Demonetisation had become a key issue in the last lap of campaign for the by-polls. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee did not campaign for the by-polls and left it to other leaders of her party.

The counting of votes will take place on November 22.